Wolves

When invited to make a work for the Cass Sculpture Foundation, Sally Matthews wanted to do something that was subtle and low key but which also had the qualities of energy and power. Animals being the principal motif for her sculptures, she chose the wolf. It was, she felt, a small animal with a large presence. It is the animals themselves that interest Matthews rather than their mythologies. Her research took her to a wolf rescue organisation called Wolf Watch at Bishop's Castle in Shropshire. Matthews sat among the wolves in their pen where she quietly observed them, taking photographs and making drawings. Having familiarised herself with the creatures, Matthews's resulting sculptures have a startlingly realistic appearance - more so than even she had expected. Her first wolves in a public setting were made in Grizedale Forest between 1989 and 1993 in materials that gradually deteriorated, so that her original concept was slowly compromised. The bronze Wolves will give her work an enduring quality and remain true to her vision.

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About The Artist

Sally Matthews has used both domestic and wild animals throughout her work and has in the past depicted cows, goats, dogs chasing a peacock, bison, ponies, deerhounds, fallow deer and a flock of curlew. She treats her subjects in a very direct manner, wishing to express their innate qualities rather than their roles in myth or legend, or wanting to look at characteristics that may have parallels in human behaviour. An early manifestation of Sally Matthews's work in the public domain was her herd of wild boars at Grizedale Forest in 1986-89. These were made from natural materials found locally and had a disturbingly realistic presence. Matthew deliberately allows her works to return to the soil, which she has an ambivalent relationship towards as she both enjoys this natural degradation and is simultaneously remorseful at her works inevitable loss.